Chapter 553 - Epilogueception (7) (300 Years East-West War Part 2)
Chapter 553 – Epilogueception (7) (300 Years East-West War Part 2)
= Lu Bu =
After the country unification, Lu Bu resumed his work as the grand commander to the Red Hare Legion.
Due to the authority conflict between Zhang Liao and Lu Bu, Zhang Liao got a new army of his own, which dissatisfied Lu Bu as he wanted to use his former subordinate.
He got into the fight with Tong several times, but Lu Bu couldn't beat Tong anymore despite having the same cultivation base, 10 wings.
Lu Bu isolated himself to cultivate some more, but he reached the bottleneck because of his immortal oaths. He could not raise his strength more than 10 wings unless Lilim released him from her subordination.
Lu Bu visited Lilim and begged her to release him. However, she refused. The brainwashed girl wanted to keep Lu Bu in check for her husband, so she kept him as it was.
The god of war quit his job after that. He retired and returned to Jinyang to live with his father, Ding Yuan.
Years passed. The East-West War began.
Because of the emergency, Tong summoned Lu Bu back and returned his position. To compensate for his service, Lilim voided Lu Bu's oath, and allow him to cultivate more wings.
Delighted by the war and the freedom, Lu Bu returned to the battlefield with his father, Gao Shun, and other commanders.
The first battle he fought was the Southern Xiongnu Defensive Campaign. Guo Jia sent Lu Bu and Zhang Liao's unit to fend off against Severus Army and the coalition forces from Kushan and Sassanid.
As prideful as Lu Bu was, he didn't listen to Guo Jia or Ju Shou, who were supposed to assist him on stratagem and troops placement. Lu Bu allocated his best units and dumped all weaker soldiers to Zhang Liao before he rushed out to kill his enemies.
Ding Yuan, Lu Bu, and Gao Shun massacred and routed Sasanian and Kushan Army with ease due to Tong's advanced weapons, such as modern rifles, night goggles, grenades, and 20 year-worth of food in Lu Bu's new [Inventory] skill, bestowed by Tong.
With such supplies, Lu Bu got c.o.c.kier. He charged at Severus Army head-on.
Little did he know that it was Hannibal's schemes. Severus drew Lu Bu's forces into Siberian and isolated him during winter. The coordination between Hannibal and Severus stopped Lu Bu's momentum, and they killed both Ding Yuan and Gao Shun during the counterattack. At the same time, he sent his main forces to strike Zhang Liao to destroy Lu Bu's main supply base.
When Lu Bu heard that his father was killed and Zhang Liao's base was destroyed, he sent his forces back home and fought against Severus on his own, planning to kill as many soldiers as he could to avenge for his father's death.
He ran into another trap. Severus and elite cultivators surrounded him.
Desperately, Lu Bu fought to save his own skin. He lost count how many men he killed, but they kept self-detonating before they died.
Fortunately, Zhang Liao busted him out of trouble. Lu Bu returned home with a humiliating defeat.
Angry and sad, Lu Bu got depressed. He isolated himself and cultivated like a mad man. Yet, he couldn't progress further as he didn't have an oath subordinate.
When Lu Bu heard that his father and Gao Shun could reincarnate with Tong's system power, he recovered. He reflected on his mistake and asked Tong for another chance to lead troops against Severus.
However, the war had already tipped to their favor at that time, thanks to Pu Jing, Guo Jia, Zhuge Liang, Jia Xu, and the navy forces of the Sun Clan. Tong didn't need to deploy more troops or send Lu Bu to the battle again.
Yet, after seeing Lu Bu's enthusiasm, Tong allowed Lu Bu to fight again, but he was not allowed to lead any unit. Lu Bu had to fight on his own.
The good news was – Lu Bu could do anything he wanted or roam the battlefields. However, he couldn't command soldiers.
Lu Bu agreed. He traveled west, searching for a battlefield that he could fight. Also, he planned to kill Severus and Hannibal, who killed many of his men and his father.
Jia Xu learned that Lu Bu was on his way. He sent some info of Severus Army location to Lu Bu and told him that Severus was vulnerable there.
Learning Severus' location from Jia Xu, Lu Bu rushed to Constantinople, Greece, where Severus was preparing his forces to fight against Sun Quan, Lu Xun, Gan Ning, and the Sun Clan Army in Karapınar Forest, Turkey.
Lu Bu barged into the city and killed soldiers, civilians, and officers. He destroyed half of the city on his own before Severus showed up with his elite bodyguards.
Like a mad dog, Lu Bu fought everyone without caring for his life.
In the end, he killed Severus as he wished, but he was killed by Severus' no-name bodyguards. Still, he died smiling, knowing that he could reincarnate again.
Thanked to Lu Bu's contribution and self-sacrifice, the Roman Empire went into chaos as ambitious senates fought each other to succeed Severus for a whole year. The prepared troops deserted their armies, while many senates drew them to their sides to increase their political power.
Lu Xun, Guo Jia, Zhuge Liang, and Jia Xu went into action and intervened with Roman's internal affair. Each of them pretended to support different factions and put them to fight each other.
However, Hannibal thwarted their plan and raised a puppet emperor, Caracalla, the eldest son of Severus, as the new emperor before civil war broke out.
But the effort was futile as more new forces and countries emerged from the ruined cities that Cao Mengde and Pu Jing destroyed. Hannibal went missing afterward.
This development led to the downfall of the Roman Empire. Lu Bu was given the full credits for dealing the decisive blow, which triggered this event.
Ding Yuan, Lu Bu, and Gao Shun's statues were built in Jinyang to honor their glorious achievements after the war.
Lu Bu's reincarnation was delayed due to the death of Tong during the festival. But after Tong reincarnated as Xian Tong and reclaimed his old universe, including the admin position, Lu Bu was born as Tong's 2,005th son.
Lu Bu changed his name into Xian Fengxian, who became a dominant figure among Tong's descendants. But that was for another story.
…
= Shu Han Legion =
After Tong's returned from Lilim's dimension, Guan Yu, Zhao Yun, Huang Zhong, and Ma Chao were repositioned and assigned into a single unit – Shu Han Legion.
This was to honor Liu Bei's former generals. Even though Zhang Fei was killed by Li Feihong, nobody minded it since Li Feihong was Liu Bei. Master killing a bad subordinate was a normal thing.
Xu Shu, Zhuge Liang, and Zhou Cang were transferred to help this unit as well.
Li Feihong's Crimson Angel Legion was disbanded, but Li Feihong was transferred to be Shu Han Legion's grand commander instead. Since they were all Shu-Han, they should have a better affinity than working with other former Wei generals.
This move was to gather potential threats into one unit, so Li Feihong, a loyal buddy, could control them.
Unfortunately, Li Feihong saw it as a burden. He complained a lot to Tong that the latter overworked him. He already had the title of Prime Minister, and he had to clean up Dong Bai's mess. Now that Tong put him in charge of these rowdy people, Li Feihong threatened to commit suicide.
Facing Li Feihong's protest, Tong put Zhuge Liang in charge of this legion instead.
And Tong did not disappoint. Although Zhuge Liang's action seemed dubious and ambitious, he was a hardcore loyalist. As long as Tong put him in a high-ranking position with heavy responsibility, Zhuge Liang's loyalty wouldn't waver.
Zhuge Liang requested to transfer them to Yi Province, the old Shu. Tong allowed it and sent them to their former kingdom.
Zhuge Kongming then made several bold moves. He recruited his brothers, Zhuge Jin and Zhuge Dan into his forces. Then, he found Fa Zhang and Jiang Wei in the Shu area.
Just like in history, Zhuge Liang mobilized to Nanman and subjugated Meng Huo and his tribes. The latter and Zhurong joined forces with them afterward.
That was not all, Zhuge Liang snatched Zhong Hui and Deng Ai, great generals of Wei's later generation, into his ranks a few decades later.
The court went into an uproar as they thought that Zhuge Liang was planning to rebel, but Tong, Diaochan, Dong Bai, and Lu Zhi trusted them. Not because of his trust did Tong allow Zhuge Liang to do whatever he did, but Tong was aware of the upcoming trouble, which Pu Jing caused during his time in the west.
Pu Jing returned to China along with a new war as Tong had expected.
Immediately, Tong put Zhuge Liang into good use. He sent Shu Han Legion to Kushan Empire while Guo Jia deployed Zhang Liao and Lu Bu to the north.
Tong demanded that Zhuge Liang had to settle down in the area and form a new route toward the west other than the Silk Road or the sea route. In other words, Tong wanted Zhuge Liang to conquer India's regions.
Zhuge Liang didn't disappoint Tong. He conquered ancient Burmese and Tibetan Tribes in Tibet. Even small tribes of a few hundred people in Nepal, Bangladesh, and Bhutan didn't escape his grasp.
Shu Han Legion spent 20 years annexing 12 major kingdoms in India Peninsula, including Gupta, who should have dominated India in history in a few years. In the same year, reports said that Zhang Liao achieved a major victory over Severus Army in Southern Xiongnu.
Afterward, it was an easy task for Zhuge Liang to wipe out the weakened Kushan, who was being attacked by the expanding Sassanid Kingdom.
From that point, Shu Han Legion buttheaded against the two father and son, Ardashir and Shapur, the emperor and the prince of the Sassanian Empire.
Shockingly, Ardashir and Shapur had prepared a massive force of a million Neo-Persian war-slaves, and they waited for Zhuge Liang's arrival to fight in a decisive battle.
Guan Yu, who was a 10-wing angel at the time, found shocking info by using his immortal sight. They ran into a trap, orchestrated by Hannibal Barca. Both Shapur and Ardashir retained their counterpart memory and managed to acquire 8 wings. However, they swore allegiance to Severus, so they couldn't progress through their cultivation fast enough.
Zhuge Liang, Fa Zhang, Jiang Wei, and Xu Shu found it cute. Despite having only 200,000 soldiers, Zhuge Liang declined Ardashir's open battle challenge and forced them to fight in their turf, where his forces had the advantage ground.
After all, they knew that their Shu Han Legion's duty was just a distraction for Sassanid. The real attack forces were the navy unit of Wu Han Legion of Sun Quan.
Using the advantage of superior cultivators and technologies, Zhuge Liang dragged the campaign and withered Sassanid's food supply.
Every day, they fought in Zhuge Liang's home ground, but he kept on defending. Cannons, guns, ranged weapons stopped the massive army of cultivators and slaves on their track.
8-wing and 6-wing cultivators couldn't infiltrate Zhuge Liang's airspace either as monster generals, Guan Yu, Zhao Yun, Ma Chao, Huang Zhong, Deng Ai, Jiang Wei, and Zhong Hui revealed their 10 wings, intimidating the little angels and demons.
Hannibal visited Sassanid to observe the campaign with his own eyes after the Sassanid emperor informed them that they couldn't crack Zhuge Liang's defense. Thus, they couldn't send help to Constantinople, where Severus was gathering his troops.
Hannibal lamented, "If my men are as strong as theirs and I have the same weaponry, I could have conquered Han many years ago."
Hannibal didn't stay behind or help the Sassanid royal family. He returned to Constantinople and didn't come back again.
Without the aid of the monster, Ardashir and Shapur couldn't keep up with Zhuge Liang's never-ending traps, arrays, and WW-I's trenches and barbed wires mazes.
By 320 AD, Ardashir and Shapur stopped attacking as his army suffered heavy casualties. They sent a diplomat and asked for a truce.
Fa Zhang had an idea. Instead of having truce, Fa Zhang persuaded Ardashir to join their side instead.
By bribing them with outdated weapons, such as muskets, Ardashir wavered. However, Shapur saw through Fa Zhang's scheme, so he suggested to his father that they should decline.
Fa Zhang pushed further. He revealed that Tong was the king god that could manipulate universe laws that he could create water and food from nothingness.
The temptation of [Create Food] system skills attracted both father and son. As the majority of their land was desert and wasteland, they lacked a major source of food.
As such, the Sassanid Empire switched sides. They formed an alliance with Shu Han Army in exchange for Tong's skill.
Tong gave the skill to the father and son as requested by Zhuge Liang. Using this chance, Jiang Wei and Xu Shu also showed off their skills by coaxing the Sassanid emperor to attack the Roman Empire together with them.
Drunk by the abundance of created food, Ardashir sent his forces to attack Greece as requested.
Both Roman and Sassanid ended up killing each other for a year before Anicius Faustus captured Ardashir and told them that they were tricked.
Roman released Ardashir and signed a peace treaty with each other afterward.
Sensing that their plan had failed, Shu Han Legion repositioned themselves in India. , just in case the Sasanian father and son would turn against them in the future.
As Zhuge Liang had predicted, Sassanid eventually backstabbed them in the year 500 after Pu Jing, Cao Mengde, Sun Shangxiang, and Sun Quan broke the Roman Empire into pieces.
Since they asked for it, Shu Han Legion finally attacked the Sassanid Empire.
The Glorious Neo-Persian Empire fell apart in a year. Shu Han returned home afterward as Zhuge Liang refused to stay in this arid land for more than necessary. They didn't bother ruling over the territories as Tong warned them about the latter generation European countries.
Many years after the war, Hannibal Barca returned and visited them, not with his human form but his other form. It was the day that a giant dragon opened a rift to invite Tong and others to the [Festival].
Tong didn't allow native subordinates to join the festival, but he sent everyone into Zhang Jiao's dimension.
Seeing Tong's action, Hannibal Barca, the dragon, left a sarcastic remark to Tong, "How does it feel to be on the powerless side for once, administrator?"